Monthly Archives: March 2003

Army Times is a good source of news from the soldiers’ perspective. It also has good photos from Iraq; click on Frontline Photos. Here are a few: American tanks roll past a sign that says “To Baghdad.” An American paratrooper and a Kurdish militiaman stand guard in northern Iraq; the Kurd looks happy to be in action. A B2 stealth bomber completes a mission. American Marines south of Baghdad walk »

I saw this article in the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of days ago: “Why Arab intellectuals are now praying for Saddam.” The theme of the article, reported from Saudi Arabia, is that Arab intellectuals who have long despised Saddam Hussein are now praying “that God preserve him for a few more weeks”: “They want Saddam Hussein to go and they expect him to go eventually, but they want him »

This past Tuesday the Wall Street Journal ran a column by Spain’s foreign minister Ana Palacio. This morning the Journal has made the column available on its OpinionJournal Web site. It is course no longer news that Spain is supporting us in the war, but the column is striking for its powerful dissent from the Franco/Prussian axis: “Allies, not counterweights.” Palacio concludes her column with an invocation of Don Quixote: »

The New York Times has a remarkable after-action report from Troop C, First Brigade, Third Infantry Division: “Haunting thoughts after a battle.” David Tucker of No Left Turns directed our attention to the article (and gave us the heading above), saying that “I think this article from the New York Times is the best reporting I have read on the war. It probably makes the best case for the essential »

The war had been on for barely a week before the Washington Post, or at least some of its writers, went into an oppositionist mode. Today’s Post includes this article by Alan Sipress: “Image Is Everything at Centcom”. The subtitle reads: “Senior Officials Shift Focus Away From U.S. Military Problems.” Sipress’ article is a hatchet job on the military leaders at Central Command: “[A]t daily news conferences and private briefings, »

Debka File cites unnamed American intelligence sources for a report that Iraq has been able to deploy “chemical and biological weapons to within missile-striking distance of Israel in western Iraq despite US-UK presence in region.” Debka also says taht some of the chemical and biological weapons were taken out of hiding in Syria. Further, Debka says that several hundred Lebanese Hezbollah gunmen have crossed the Syrian-Iraqi border to join Saddam’s »

There have been many news accounts of Iraqi civilians trying to flee Basra and being blocked by Saddam Fedeheen death squads. CNN has a more detailed report via a reporter on the scene: “More than 1,000 women and children, escorted by some men, tried to make it to safety from the city of Basra across one of the main bridges to the southern side, where British forces are encamped. “[A]s »

The other half of conservatism’s most dynamic duo, Ann Coulter, also has a new column today, titled “The Enemy Within.” She could have been referring to Helen Thomas, but she means the New York Times: “Five days after the Baghdad Times was morosely reporting that no one viewed the war with gladness, things had gotten even worse. In a single editorial, the Times said our troops were ‘faced with battlefield »

Michelle Malkin administers a much-deserved thrashing to the appalling Helen Thomas, “the crusty ex-journalist-turned-White House heckler.” Michelle contrasts Ms. Thomas’ indifference to the plight of American prisoners of war with her obsessive concern for the poor detainees in Guantanamo–who, by their own account, have been well treated: “Sirajuddin, 24, a Kandahar taxi driver, said: ‘The conditions were even better than our homes. We were given three meals a day — »

Chris Ayres of the London Times is traveling toward Baghdad with the U.S. Marines. This is a nice account of an attack on the Marine column, strung out in the mud along Iraq’s unfinished Highway 1, in the middle of the night in a howling sandstorm, by Iraqi tanks. Ayers was understandably scared out of his wits, but his fear seems not to have been shared by the Marine officer »

Victor Davis Hanson also knows what he is talking about, and his column today is the usual must-read: “History or hysteria.” Like Ralph Peters, he notes: “The commentators need to listen to history. By any fair standard of even the most dazzling charges in military history »

Ralph Peters not only sounds like he knows what he’s talking about, his is one of the few analylses of the war that is not a fount of pessimism: “Guts and glory.” Peters summarizes the week past as follows: “From the ships at sea, to the youngest infantrymen on the land, this has been a proud week in American military history.” He concludes with words that could usefully be appended »

Regular Power Line readers know that formerly-liberal Minnesota has been trending strongly to the right for some years. Tomorrow’s Minneapolis Star Tribune will report that “Minnesotans back Bush and war in Iraq.” According to the Strib’s Minnesota Poll, 61 percent of Minnesotans say the United States was right to start military action in Iraq; Bush’s job approval among Minnesotans is currently at 63 percent; and 67 percent approve of Bush’s »

The left has been after Richard Perle for some time, most recently focusing on an alleged “conflict of interest” relating to his work on behalf of Global Crossing and its proposed sale of assets to a group of Asian investors. I haven’t followed this story closely enough to be able to explain what the alleged “conflict” is, but tonight the liberals got their man, as Perle resigned as Chairman of »

Glenn Reynolds made a good point tonight–why haven’t we seen video (or even audio) tapes of Osama bin Laden expressing solidarity with Saddam Hussein and urging Muslims to fight on his behalf against the Great Satan? It is hard to think of any explanation other than–he’s dead. A living Osama would surely have risen to the occasion, no matter how carefully he may be hidden. If the war ends without »

the more they stay the same. Palestinians continue to name their babies after Saddam in record numbers, and to urge him to attack Israel with chemical weapons, while at the same time expecting that once Saddam is defeated the U.S. will force Israel to re-start the “peace process” by making new concessions. It happened after the first Gulf War and will probably happen again. This time, the pretext will be »

News reports yesterday indicated that chemical/biological weapons suits were discovered among Iraqi military supplies; captured Iraqi soldiers related plans to use chemical warheads; and reports tonight say that Iraqi forces south of Baghdad may have just been supplied with chemical weapons. All of this raises the question: Why hasn’t Iraq already used its chemical and biological arsenal? Its tactics have been desperate, unconventional, despicable. Using weapons of mass destruction is »